De Fawg Pin Part III!
by StarMajesty
Summary: A continuation of Donna Jo Napoli's version of "The Frog Prince."
1. Author's Note and Then Some

WAIT!!!  
  
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Before you go on to the next chapter, PLEASE read my author's note. Please?  
  
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Hello, hello! This is my first fictional piece (Stay!) and I must say, I'm rather proud of it! =) I suck at writing (Don't leave! This is good!), but I think I've done a pretty good job with this one. You see, Donna Jo Napoli is like, the BEST author I have ever read, but her endings rarely agree with me. (I'm a sap, I like happy endings.) So this time, I decided to do something about it! De Fawg Pin was a fantastic book, but I was disappointed with the ending. I was hoping that in Jimmy, Pickpocket of the Palace, it would have a happy ending, but sadly enough, it didn't, so I'm continuing it! I was really inspired to write and surprisingly enough, what I had spouted out isn't all that bad! So, will you at least try it? Reading the first two books is much more helpful than just knowing the fairy tale. You'll be lost without 'em.  
  
Without further ado!…  
  
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Disclaimer: Read Donna Jo Napoli's books. VERY good books. Based on her rendition of The Frog Prince. Not mine. Nope. Oh, and the actual frog prince tale? Um… hehe. I claim nothing, except this fic. It's mine! I worked very hard on it. 


	2. Ch. I: Some Explaining to Do

1 Chapter I: Some Explaining To Do  
  
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As my 49 siblings plus one adopted sister stared inquiringly at me, waiting for an explanation, I could only be bothered by one thought; what was I going to tell Mamma?  
  
"Oh me, oh me! Gracie! Jimmy!" Suddenly, my mother had enveloped us both within her forearms. It was unusual, to say the least, as Mamma detested doing anything too unfroglike, but Daddy had shown her their beauty. My little heart ached within that moment of shock as I remembered Daddy and the little dilemma he had put me in.  
  
"Come away, children. It's time to sleep." A round of groans came from all around, but Mamma was adamant. "We've had an exciting day, but now we need rest. In the morning, Gracie will tell us all about what happened."  
  
She thought Gracie had saved the pond as well! I wanted to shout my indignation, but thought better of it. If she didn't know that I was involved, or that the man—Daddy—knew my name, there would be nothing to tell her! Even if it was deceitful, I don't want to hurt her, but Gracie, how I loathed her in the next moment, blew my plan to pieces.  
  
"But, Mamma, that man knew Jimmy's name! How did he know his name?"  
  
A quick, barely discernible flicker went through Mamma's eye, something she does whenever she's remembering something. Probably the time when the man had called out her name the day Daddy disappeared. A sharp glance from her left eye told me I had a lot of explaining to do.  
  
"In the morning, Gracie," she said in a tight voice, then did a croaky sort of cough as she continued with a more subdued tone, "In the morning, we'll talk. It seems that you've been through quite a bit and could use a rest. Now, to sleep, all of you!"  
  
Glancing around, I saw many tired, little faces nod and hop away onto some various lilies and stones. Mamma took several large leaps and landed, Gracie looking between Momma and me in confusion before settling herself to sleep. Taking as many little leaps as I could, I reveled in the feeling of having my strong legs back; I eventually joined Mamma on the rock where we used to spend happy days with Daddy.  
  
"Will you tell me, Jimmy, what happened when you left and how the man knew your name?" Sadness and pain dripped over every word as she stared up at the waxing, gibbous moon. She had suspicions, I knew, but now, my wretched fate, I had to confirm them.  
  
Counting 50 sleeping bodies, to make sure only one heard the tale, I sighed and began with the spell the hag had put on me. Keeping one eye to the sky and one on me, she nodded every now and then to show she was listening. At some point, I had crawled into her lap and she was soothing me as mammals soothed their crying offspring. There were often times where I could hear her mental shouts of "Oh me, oh me, oh me!" but being the sensible frog she is, she remembered that I was safe and in her arms.  
  
The soft, moist hand that rubbed gently on my back faltered just a moment when I got to the part where I asked for Pin. Trembling with joy, she fought to keep her movements steady as I told her Daddy sent his love and that as long as the prince lived, he lived. How could I go on with what I had to tell her next?  
  
"The Prince told me, to tell you, that frogs are frogs and people are people. I didn't understand at first, but I do now, do you?" A nod.  
  
Finishing with when Daddy picked up the ring and said he would keep it, until we needed it, I told her that, in his heart, he must've been human. Not wanting to, but needing to, I looked up at my mother. Tears streamed from her eyes and I realized how uncomfortable it must've been for her. I know what it's like to cry, but she has cried only once before. "Crying is unfroglike. Frogs don't cry," she had said. Even so, she didn't wipe away at that tear and merely watched as it fell into a once occupied spot. I was never really a frog, but a fawg, partly frog and now partly human.  
  
"Mamma? You know what this means, right?" I didn't want to say it, but, oh, how I had to. "Daddy's a human. The hag changed him into a frog but the kiss from the princess broke that spell. He became human again."  
  
"Yes, yes. I understand, Jimmy. Oh me, oh me, oh me," she answered, just barely above a whisper.  
  
"It explains so much," she continued to mumble," Those clothes in the road, his horrible jumps, the funny way he talked, the cow… everything! Oh me…"  
  
Was she going mad? What was she talking about? She wasn't foaming at the mouth, so I went on, " He's going to marry Marissa," she stopped mumbling, "in two days."  
  
Marriage. What a funny word. Daddy once explained to us, before the other fawgs came home, what "marriage" was. In the eyes of God (a great, unseen, all-powerful being who lived in a place called "heaven"), a female and male are spiritually and physically linked to one another for all of eternity. This bonded pair, husband and wife, stayed together for their entire lives and mated with only one another. He told us he felt married to Mamma and she had even said she felt the same. If that were true, and marriage lasted forever, why was he marrying Marissa? I remembered when Sally and I had seen him, the Prince, singing his mating song to the Princess. Shouldn't Mamma have been the only one to hear it? Why did he love someone other than her? Is their marriage different because they had no priest or church or weddings bells and wedding rings? Why did being human null his marriage to Mamma?  
  
Sometime during my silent tirade, Mamma had silently leapt away. Anger and sadness welled up in my little amphibian heart as I thought of my poor Mamma. A curious little frog that fell in love when frogs were not meant to love but be happy. And then, this love of hers turns out to be human! My poor, froggy mother. 


	3. Ch. II

Note To All Readers: Jade's perspective. A bit angsty. I will be moving perspectives often. And keep in mind, I'm not a very good writer, or very creative, so you're stuck with what you get!  
  
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Married. My wonderful, handsome Pin is a human and about to marry another! And despite it all, my little froggy heart will never let me deny my love for him. Oh, me. I should've listened to that old tree frog when she told me he was trouble. I should've.  
  
How I relish those days, when he was with me, teaching me so many grand things. How happy I was when he called me his wife, named me his beautiful, green Jade. So many wonderfully happy days now filled with sorrow, and a frog should never be sad for long! A frog. I haven't been a frog since the day I met Pin. I can't even be fawg. I'm nothing, without Pin to define me, but Jade.  
  
Our mating hole, the well, and a little further, the palace. My husband and his soon-to-be wife sleep there. His wife! He sent me his love. Did he send all of it? Feels so meager. Am I to keep his love, far away from him and his life? These cursed tears! Merely another indication of how out of place I am. A frog that cries is not a frog. A fawg can cry because it is part human. They all have so much of him in them, especially my little Jimmy. My little froglets. Our froglets. He doesn't know of Gracie; she would've loved to meet him.  
  
Pin, oh Pin. How can I live without my husband? Soon, my children will leave me to have families of their own and spread the knowledge you taught them. What will happen once they leave? I will be alone again, without even the comfort that you still love me, remember me. My children love me because you taught them how, and I love them because you taught me. I also love you, can never stop loving you. It will consume and destroy me. I still love you because you never taught me how to forget.  
  
In the distance, I hear a familiar song. It sounds just like the one Pin. always. sang. Leaping from the stone wall, I went in search of the singer. It had to be my Pin, my Pin the Human. There! Mere feet away, a man is crouched low, crooning his melody. I'm so happy to see him, but then I realize what it is he does. Crouched down with his head thrown back, he sang a mating call, and there, looking on in fascinated rapture, was the woman he sought to marry.  
  
I remember her. I once thought she intended to eat my Jimmy. Pin must've realized her true intent. Her song, which was horrible to my froggy ears, had enraptured him calling it, and her, pretty. Did he wake next to me, his froggy wife, and wish for his humanity each morning? And soft thighs. Yes, the human mating ritual. I'd heard tales. Touching my belly, I recall how tightly he held on to me those few days. So overwrought with pain and jealousy of his princess, I let out a loud cry. He heard me, I know, but I don't care! His head whipped around and his gaze fell on me.  
  
"Jade?"  
  
The girl was surprised at his abrupt halting. But then again, I really didn't care. I was so incredibly angry with him, the Prince, my Pin. I was meant to be happy! Not angry or sad! Not jealous! Screaming, I did the very most absurd thing. I jumped on him. Of course, a mere frog couldn't hurt any human, but I did try! Limbs too exhausted to carry on; I leapt away and back to my life without Pin. 


	4. Ch III: Filling Them In

Hi everyone! Um, I happened to stumble upon a notebook which incidentally held about 8 completed chapters, so I figured I'd try putting them up for y'all. -; Boy, was it a surprise finding them after all these years! I don't even remember writing most of the stuff! lol  
  
Note to "The Little Frog" readers, um, sorry, but I've still got writer's block. I don't know where to go from this point and everything I think of is just so terribly clichéd. Heh.

**Chapter III: Filling Them In**

Fifty pairs of eyes bored into my skull. Early this morning, Mamma had come back to the rock, bruised and exhausted. All of us were awake by then and looked on with worry and fear, wanting to question, but apprehensive to do so. I also would not let them come near. Silently pleading with them, I told them I would explain everything, but they had to follow me so she could rest.  
  
That's how I ended up in this predicament here, at the well, with froglets lining its walls and in its water.  
  
Someone to my left, who I identified as Jackie, cried out, "Why is Mamma hurt?" and soon a chorus of 'Why's' filled the air.  
  
"Stop! Be quiet a moment!" I yelled over the noise. "I'll tell you why, but there are many things I must explain first..."  
  
A good part of the morning was spent telling them the things Daddy had taught Mamma and me. Heaven, God, souls and spirits, eternity and the like, but I emphasized heavily on marriage. They absorbed information, always eager to learn new things, but Mamma was never far from theirs thoughts. As I came to a close, Gracie, who sat at my right, touched me lightly on my forearm and asked, "Now? Will you tell us now?" and I could only nod in reply as I fought my tears and relayed the true events of the last several days.  
  
Fifty pairs of eyes no long bore into my skull, but what I wouldn't have done to have them staring back at me rather than crying and trembling with anger. With each tear that fell, I felt my anger at my father intensify, ready to share in the rage me siblings felt, but I had to be the leader, the sensible one, and it was nearly noon.  
  
"Mamma will be worried if she finds us gone. Now collect yourselves and do not bother her with questions. She needs us to be strong," she needs Pin, I think angrily, "Don't do anything either. There's nothing we can do. He's made his decision and now we need to take care of Mamma and each other."  
  
Silently fuming, we all hopped back to the pond. The brief journey had given us time to cool off and when we returned, we were in for a surprise. Mamma wasn't on the rock as we had expected, but swam around lazily until catching sight of us.  
  
"Children! Wherever have you been? I almost went frantic when I woke to find all of you gone!" She was happy and beaming brightly, but something was very different, "But then I realized you all must've gone off with Jimmy. Hey now, what's with all the startled faces?"  
  
Could the others see through the façade, too?  
  
"Come, it's such a bright and beautiful, sunny day and there are so many sow bugs! Have you all eaten?" Remembering that we in fact had not eaten, froglets began to leap, splashing and chasing one another for the most delectable morsel. I snapped up a straggler, but as I ate I noticed, Mamma didn't snap up a single one.  
  
Days came and went. The bruises had healed, but Mamma's color stayed pale and waxy. Worry was etched on every froglets face, especially my own, yet we lived on. It had nearly been a week before the little things I had noticed before caught my attention now. She was much too thin for she seldom ate unless stared into doing so. She bounded around energetically and with excessive happiness, but her movements were becoming sluggish and at the day's end, exhaustion overcame her. Her skin stayed the same, perhaps even paler, and it was still a mystery what had occurred the night after our conversation.  
  
Then, one day, during a rousing game of leap frog, something happened that terrified us all. It seemed that, in the middle of a leap, Mamma had fallen unconscious and tumbled into a heap of horrified froglets.  
  
Carefully, I had a strong group carry her onto a nearby lily. Being too frightened to see if she was dead, I didn't come near. Gracie took the opportunity to shake Mamma's still body furiously until she fluttered her eyes open.  
  
"Wha? Gracie? Stop shaking me! What happened?" she sputtered and I let out the breath I had been holding and drew near.  
  
"Mamma, what's happening to you?" I croaked out, "You fainted in the middle of leap frog and fell midair. And that's not all that's wrong. You've been sick too long."  
  
"Oh me, you've noticed?" she said and sighed a great sigh. "Well, Jimmy, dear, and all my fawggy children, it's very simple why I'm sick... I'm dying."  
  
"You're too young to die!" a voice cried out.  
  
"Too young!" "Too young!"  
  
"Clam down, Michael, all of you. No one is too young to die. Some die earlier than others and it seems I'm to be one of them."  
  
"Is it because of Daddy? Are you dying because of him?" Jackie this time, and I stared at her, furious for mentioning him.  
  
Momentarily startled, Mamma merely smiled and said, "You all have so very much of him in you," I could almost hear them screaming in protest, "especially you, Jimmy." I shook my head; I don't want him to be a part of me!  
  
"All of you will do just fine without me, just like the way it was meant to be. Regular tadpoles and froglets don't need to be cared after, so you all will be fine. Besides, you have each other. Each of you has fifty siblings to care for and when that's done you won't need a mother. I don't know how much longer I'll be staying, but I don't want you to fret. Remember Heaven, Jimmy? That's where I'll be going. Do tell them what Heaven is, okay? Hop along now, don't be sad. Frogs were never meant for sadness and neither are fawgs! Away with you now, I'm a little tired, and I can't rest with the lot of you hovering over me."  
  
Fifty-one little froglets were reluctantly shooed away from their dying mother. Gathered, in a rather somber atmosphere, they each contemplated recent events. Then suddenly, an idea came to me and I leapt in my excitement with a great, "Eureka!" Perhaps there was a way to save Mamma...


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